Holy Things for Holy People

We're a prayer book parish. We use the Book of Common Prayer (1979) for the words we say, of course. But at St. Paul's, we also use the literal book itself—as opposed to printing the order of worship in new leaflets each week.

This weekend, though, we're doing something different. The Eucharistic prayer will be printed in the leaflets because it's not in the prayer book. In fact, it's not in any book.

Because I made it up.

At General Convention in 2018, we agreed as a church to begin using liturgical resources beyond the few that were previously authorized. It's actually church law that the words we say during worship—and the songs we sing—must be authorized by our national church body, made up of representatives from every diocese. I can't just lead our community in a worship service invented wholecloth; our prayer book is part of the glue that binds our tradition together.

Still, it felt a bit limiting, so General Convention agreed to open things up for a period of liturgical exploration.

In the spirit of exploration and experimentation, I wrote "Eucharistic Prayer P" (P for St. Paul!) and dedicate it to the children and youth of our parish. Our bishops reviewed and approved it, so we can now use it during worship. We'll try Prayer P for the first time this Sunday, 10/29, at the 10:15 service. (I hope dearly that the children in attendance will be in Halloween costumes in case we document the occasion with photos.)

A photo from Halloween 2020

By the way, anyone can write a Eucharistic prayer. It's not a priest-only thing. But each Eucharistic prayer does require certain elements: retelling the story of salvation, the biblical words Jesus used to institute the Eucharist, etc.

If you're interested to learn more, I invite you to read Eucharistic Prayer P and its introduction, maybe even before Sunday. It has notes about where I got the language, as well as the purpose I hope it will serve. You may even notice a "Yay God" in there!

Once we try this prayer out, hopefully a few times, we can report back to the bishops about how it went. Did we find it edifying? Did it feel faithful, even though it was different than what we're used to? Would we recommend it to other communities, too, or is it something that's particular to us?

I'm looking forward to trying out this experiment with you and hearing your thoughts.

Join me: St. Paul's Verse of the Week

The vestry and I had a great conversation this week about a quote from fourth century theologian John Chrysostom:

The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.

We do a lot of things to engrave scripture on our hearts at St. Paul's. We read the Bible aloud, Old Testament and New, each week. We hear sermons to open the words of scripture to us in new ways. The words of the Book of Common Prayer are filled with words and passages from the Bible, so that many of us have them memorized. We sing words from the Bible in hymns and anthems.

But all of that happens on Sunday mornings.

What about the rest of the week?

Many of us have daily or weekly Bible-reading practices. But many of us have never regularly opened a Bible in our homes.

For this program year, I propose that we take on a new spiritual practice all together as a parish: St. Paul's Verse of the Week.

St. Paul's Verse of the Week

Each week, we'll have one verse from the Bible to focus our week together. The verses will come from all kinds of books of the Bible: Old Testament stories, prophets, wisdom literature, gospel stories of Jesus, and New Testament teachings.

You're invited to engage with the verse in any way that's meaningful to you.

I plan to journal on the verse as part of my prayer practice that week. You could also:

• memorize the verse

• read it aloud as a family at the dinner table each night

• read the verse in the broader context of the book it's in

• draw or otherwise make art of the verse

• or any other way you can think to engage with it.

The verse may or may not come up on Sundays during worship or formation classes. The main idea is for us to have a small assignment to take home with us, and to try on new ways to engage with scripture. Whatever you do, the goal is to engrave that verse on your heart that week.

I wonder how this consistent, specific, shared engagement with scripture will shape our community this year? I hope you'll take up this invitation and join me!

Welcome back—to me and you

Welcome back from the summer! Our program year begins this week in earnest, which means a return to our usual worship schedule. This Sunday, we return to two services on Sunday mornings: 8am and 10:15am. If you're reading this, you're very much invited to join us.

You may notice that this is also my first Sunday back at St. Paul's since my parental leave began. And wow is it a mix of emotions! I loved being home during this challenging transition to parenthood, but at the same time, I've missed you all and am excited to be back.

John and Hannah are looking forward to coming to St. Paul's to see you all sometime soon, too. We're trying to keep photos of her off the internet, for the most part. Instead, stop by the bulletin board outside the office to see a few printed photos this Sunday!

While I was away, I somehow also finished my coursework for my Master of Sacred Theology (STM) at Yale Divinity School. I was able to carry Hannah with me while I walked at commencement. If you squint you can see her in this photo with me.

More information and announcements about this coming year will come in the next few weeks as I get my feet under me. Thank you for your patience with me while I finish turning on my "church brain" again after spending so much effort getting my "mom brain" up and running.

And thank you infinitely to Rev. Mo and the many amazing lay leaders at St. Paul's who stepped up and kept things humming along over the past few months. It meant so much to know that, between them and the Holy Spirit, our community was in good hands while I was away.